The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and the Texas A&M University Division of Research hosted a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Proposal Writing Workshop, featuring Dr. George Hazelrigg, a former NSF program officer who has been speaking at similar workshops for more than 15 years.
The prestigious NSF CAREER Program is a foundation-wide activity that offers the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, which offers funding for five years. Activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.
“This workshop was organized at the initiative of Dr. ZJ Pei, who has participated in similar workshops in earlier years while he was at NSF,” said Dr. Narasimha Reddy, associate agency director for strategic initiatives and centers at TEES, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and a CAREER Award recipient. “The strong participation from young faculty is a welcome sign that this workshop is addressing a clear need. We hope the experience from this workshop will lead to better proposals and outcomes.”
Nearly 100 junior faculty from TEES, Texas A&M and Texas A&M University System schools attended the workshop, which included a lecture, a question and answer session, group exercises, a mock review panel and a reception with Hazelrigg, TEES leadership, former NSF program directors, senior faculty, recent CAREER awardees and other participants.
“I’ve been working with junior faculty on their CAREER proposals for over 15 years, and this is one of the best overall workshop formats I’ve seen, highlighted by strong interactions with multiple NSF program officers,” said Dr. Laurie Garton, TEES senior research development officer and organizer of the co-workshop.